- Mamta Dogra hit the six-year-old boy’s head against the bathroom sink
- The scathing magistrate rejected her pleas for leniency
A magistrate has shot at a suburban woman who smashed a little boy’s head into the bathroom sink – after her lawyers tried to claim she was ‘loving’ and ‘kind’.
Mamta Dogra, who now lives in the south of the city, appeared before the Downing Center Local Court on Tuesday afternoon to plead for leniency.
Her lawyer cited glowing references calling her “wonderful” and “generous” and assured the court that “the community can feel safe” that they were not at risk from her.
That did not go down well with Magistrate Glenn Bartley – who had read court documents in which witnesses described how Dogra had left a school-aged boy ‘screaming and crying’ with ‘blood dripping down his face’ during the 2018 incident.
Dogra then told the boy to “shut up” and refused to call an ambulance.
Mamta Dogra threatened six-year-old boy to keep her brutal attack secret – which has only just come to light in court
“Bashing the boy’s head against a hard sink hardly fits the bill,” His Honor said.
“Young children cannot protect themselves from the actions of adults… where that protective trust is abused.”
Adelaide lawyer Damien O’Dea, for Dogra – who has now moved to South Australia, frustrating her sentencing options – objected to Mr Bartley’s findings and guilty verdicts.
Mr O’Dea said: ‘Your Honor, in your judgment she has fabricated evidence…she has tried to fabricate events in order to respond to witnesses.
“My client deserves all the credit,” he argued.
Magistrate Bartley replied: ‘How?’
“I found her guilty beyond reasonable doubt,” the magistrate said.
“I found that beyond reasonable doubt she was scratching people and pushing (the boy) against a hard object. I didn’t really accept her as a source of great truth.’
Dogra was found guilty of four counts of assault, including causing bodily harm to the boy.
Mr Bartley rejected Dogra’s plea to have no convictions recorded on the four assault charges for fear of losing her job as a consultant at Medibank in Adelaide.
He described an argument by Mr O’Dea that Dogra should avoid a conviction because she could fail in criminal law and working with children as “out of touch with reality” and “so overwhelmingly indisputable”.
The magistrate could not give Dogra an Intensive Corrections Order, which is essentially a prison sentence served in the community, because she lives in South Australia and requires supervision.
“I reject that,” said His Honor. ‘She smashed the six-year-old boy’s head against a hard sink, causing a laceration to his head.
“Convictions are inevitable anyway.”
The magistrate also rejected Dogra’s arguments that “money was tight” as she was represented by three different lawyers at one point.
“This case has been going on for a long time…on and on and on,” he said.
The magistrate could not give Dogra an Intensive Corrections Order, which is essentially a prison sentence served in the community, because she lives in South Australia and requires supervision.
He imposed a three-year community corrections order on her and fined her a total of $17,500.